3com Corporation

Atl Technology, LLC

Douglas Alan Sward

Brent Delbert Madsen

Jeffrey L Jones

Carlos A Rios

Robert Yarbrough

Nhan T Nguyen

Ryan A Kunz

Ryan Kunz

Braden Ta'ala

Disclosed herein is an electrical connector, comprising a plug and a receptacle. The plug comprises first electrical contacts electrically isolated from each other and arranged into a first outer contact annulus and a first inner contact annulus concentric with and radially spaced apart from each other. The receptacle comprises second electrical contacts electrically isolated from each other and arranged into a second outer contact annulus and a second inner contact annulus concentric with and radially spaced apart from each other. The plug is selectively connectable with the receptacle. When the plug is selectively connected with the receptacle, each of the first electrical contacts of the first outer contact annulus is in physical contact with a corresponding one of the second electrical contacts of the second outer contact annulus and each of the first electrical contacts of the first inner contact annulus is in physical contact with a corresponding one of the second electrical contacts of the second inner contact annulus.

High-density electrical connector

The present invention is a retractable/extendable diversity antenna that provides the appropriate polarization in a horizontal orientation. The antenna structure is placed within a Type II PCMCIA PC card package and may be extended or retracted with one touch. The antenna structure is large enough to provide for the diversity antenna design and may optionally be housed within a PCMCIA Type II PC Card. At least one spring-loaded mechanism is used to extend the antenna structure beyond the PCMCIA PC Card package and to provide stability while the antenna structure is in the extended position. The diversity antenna configuration may consist of either two miniature, planar antenna modules or two etched printed circuit board contours that are spaced as far apart as possible with a minimum separation of a quarter wave length distance in order to provide mitigation to radio multipath fading effects. The antenna modules have orientations perpendicular to each other such that the polar nulls representative of their radiation patterns remain spatially orthogonal.

Extendable planar diversity antenna

A communication module is provided having a movable electrically conductive interface. This module comprises a printed circuit board with a first slidably receiving contact surface for providing electrical connectivity to the movable electrically-conductive interface, a non-metallic sealant disposed about at least a portion of the first slidably receiving contact surface about which the movable electrically-conductive interface is formed, the sealant imposing negligible resistance to the movable electrically-conductive interface, and a second slidably receiving contact surface for traveling across the sealant disposed about the first slidably receiving contact surface thereby forming the movable electrically conductive interface. Also a method is provided for overlaying the non-metallic sealing element over the first slidably receiving contact surface.

Sliding connector interface with non-metallic contacts

PCMCIA card with extendable antenna

Growing community of inventors

Midvale, UT, United States of America

Douglas Alan Sward